A Death Metal Overview
Death metal certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, some people love it, and some people hate it. For those that love it, this list is for you, and if you don’t, why not give it a read anyway and see if your tastes can be expanded! Death Metal is quite a broad term, as there are many sub-genres of Death Metal such as blackened death metal, deathcore, and melodic death metal. But, to keep things simple, we’re going to keep every band under the death metal umbrella (Sorry superfans). Below we’re going to break down some of the best death metal bands of all time.
1. Death
Death are considered to be the founders of the death metal genre ever since the release of the 1987 album “Scream Bloody Gore” which brought the genre to life and has been growing and evolving ever since. Sadly, the band’s frontman, Chuck Schuldiner, died in 2001, but his legacy still carries on in the death metal genre to this day.
2. Cannibal Corpse
A band that is renowned for its brutal imagery on its cover art and in its music videos, Canibal Corpse has some equally terrifying album names such as “Butchered At Birth” and “Tomb Of The Mutilated”. Cannibal Corpses albums have been sold over 2 million times, and this safely ranks them as the best-selling band of all time.
3. Obituary
After Death brought death metal onto the American music scene, bands began to emerge everywhere. Florida’s most famous death metal band that appeared in the 80s is Obituary who were based out of Tampa. Their most famous album, which was released in 1992 “The End Complete” sold over 250,000 copies.
4. Morbid Angel
Widely regarded as one of the first mainstream death metal bands. Morbid Angel released a slew of albums throughout the late ’80s and early ’90s, such as “Altars of Madness”, “Covenant”, and “Domination”. The reason that Morbid Angel is considered to be “mainstream” is because they were one of the first death metal bands to sign up to a major record label. In this case, it was Giant Records.
5. Deicide
Possibly one of the most controversial death metal bands. Many of the lyrics in Deicides’ songs were heavily anti-christian and borderline Satanist. This caused a big stir with the large and vocal Christian communities in the USA at the time. The band’s frontman Glen Benton imprinted an upside-down cross on his head and said he’d kill himself at age 33 as an anti-Christ message.
Special Mention: Suffocation
Suffocation emerged from Long Island in New York in the 1990s. While bands like Death brought Death Metal on the music scene and Cannibal Corpse turned it “mainstream” Suffocation made sure that death metal was still well alive in the ’90s. Their first album, “Effigy Of The Forgotten” was a smash hit and led to the belief that death metal was here to stay well into the future.
An Overview
We hope that you enjoyed reading our list of the best death metal bands of all time. Our list is, of course, just opinion, and you are free to disagree. In fact, we invite you to tell us who you think the best death metal bands are!
Here is the list put plainly and simply:
- Death
- Cannibal Corpse
- Obituary
- Morbid Angel
- Deicide
Special Mention: Suffocation
Death Metal is still alive and kicking to this very day. If you’ve read this whole article, we’d say that you’re probably a pretty big fan! Or maybe you’re just someone who wants to get into the genre.